Why Cyber Security for SMEs is even more important in 2017

Cyber Security will stay dominant this year with its rapidly growing technologies and innovations, Cyber attackers are just as fast or even more innovative. Last year, some companies such as TalkTalk and Tesco Bank were attacked where hackers stole money from client’s accounts. Cyber Security is important for businesses of all sizes. Small businesses are just at risk of being victims of cyber-attacks as larger corporations, and that’s why it is important for SMEs to be prepared for attacks at all times.

When hackers attack large companies, they often make the headlines of news outlets across the globe. But that doesn’t mean hackers don’t target small businesses. On the contrary, small businesses have a lot of digital assets compared to an individual user. And more often than they have less security than large companies.

Small businesses are also targets because SMEs are less careful about cyber security. Majority of small businesses underestimate their risk level and think that they don’t have anything in their servers that are worth stealing.

Types of Cyber-Attacks

The goal of a cyber-attack is to steal sensitive data, whether it is personal data or credit card information. Hackers can use several types of cyber-attacks in order to achieve their goals. Below are just some cyber-attack techniques that small business owners should be aware of.

DDoS – Distributed denial of service attacks happen by overloading the server with requests. Their goal is to take down the network system or the website.

Malware – Hackers use malicious software to gain unauthorised access or cause damage to the computer or the network.

Phishing – One of the most common types of cybercrime is phishing. It involves the gathering sensitive data such as credit card information and login details through a legitimate-looking website. More often than not, unsuspecting individuals are directed to the phishing website via email.

Password Attacks – There are various types of password attacks that cybercriminals use. A brute force attack is when the hacker tries to guess the passwords until one gets in. Another type is the dictionary attack that utilises a program to try various combinations of words. Lastly, there’s key logging that tracks all the keystrokes of the users that include user IDs and passwords.

Inside Attack – This type of cyber-attack is when a person with administrative privileges misuses one’s credentials to gain access to confidential data. That’s why it is important to remove the access of former employees upon termination, especially if they left the company on bad terms.

A lot of small business owners are confident that they can recover from a cyber-attack. However, the recovery time from an attack often takes longer than their expectation. And during that time, they fail to fully maximise the use of their company’s network. If it involves an online shop, then they are losing potential sales because of the downtime.

And that’s why it is important for SMEs to know the importance of cyber security. Prevention is better than finding the solution after a cyber-attack. Cyber security solutions are also much cheaper compared to the recovery process after the attack. It is important or business owners to assume that they can be a victim of a breach, and that’s why they need to be preparing all the time.

Security has always been a priority for us. We help our customers to fight against viruses, security breaches and Ransomware etc.

Call our team on 0330 1224 420 or send an email to Team@IQin.IT. We help you to stay secure locally and in the Cloud.